1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a capsule-medical-device dedicated power source starter that allows switching, by an application of a magnetic field to a magnetic switch that is provided in an inside of a capsule medical device and has a particular sensitivity direction in the magnetic field, a driving of the capsule medical device from OFF state to ON state.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, capsule endoscopes having an imaging function and a wireless communication function have appeared in the field of an endoscope. After inserted to an inside of a subject, the capsule endoscopes sequentially capture intra-subject images until excreted from the subject. The capsule endoscopes then wirelessly transmit data of the captured intra-subject images sequentially to an external device provided at an outside of the subject. According to the capsule endoscopes, a doctor, by making a display device display the data of the intra-subject images stored in the external device, is able to make a diagnosis on the inside of the subject based on the intra-subject images.
Some capsule endoscopes include therein a reed switch among the capsule endoscopes, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-223473, for example. In the capsule endoscope of this type, a magnetic field is applied to a reed switch by putting a power source starter that generates a magnetic field close to a package accommodating the capsule endoscope, so that a driving of the capsule endoscope is switched from OFF state to ON state. In the capsule endoscope provided with the reed switch, it is possible to switch the driving of the capsule endoscope from OFF state to ON state at an arbitrary time and to control an amount of an electrical power consumption of the capsule endoscope.